Conservative or Liberal, Deist or Pagan, Jersey transplant or Lehigh Valley native, we're all in this mess together. Let's talk. Let us do no harm. Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne

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Friday, June 05, 2015

Devil Incarnate Disrupts Child Abuse Awareness Rally

There was an important child abuse awareness rally outside the Northampton County Courthouse on Friday afternoon. But it received little attention. Though the message itself is important, and chief messenger Charlies Stecker, Jr is very impressive, most of the small group who joined him consisted of people who have themselves lost siblings and children and are lashing out at everyone instead of dealing with their own issues.

Charlie's message

Let me tell you about Charlie's message first.

He was just a four year-old toddler when his two year-old brother Eddie died in his arms. His foster mother, upset at a crying baby, let him have it with a toy bowling pin, knocking him out of the crib and onto the floor. As blood oozed out of Eddie's ears and nose, Charles held him until an ambulance arrived. But it was too late.

Shegda hides benind "Gestapo" sign

Ironically, Charles and his siblings had been taken from his biological parents over allegations of abuse. But they went from the frying pan and into the fire. To this day, Stecker is still unable to extend his arm as a result of the abuse that he received from his foster mother.

She never went to trial for Eddie's murder. She apparently died in a mental institution.

But Stecker, who calls himself God's bondservant on his Facebook page, has lots of unanswered questions. How did this mentally unstable woman end up as a foster parent? What happens to abused and neglected kids now? Stecker became a child advocate in Philadelphia, or as he refers to himself, a children's rights warrior. He founded The International Child Abuse Prevention Task Force.Yesterday's rally was supposed to be one of 400 worldwide, though I don't know if it actually happened anywhere else.

Charlie's messengers

I caught Shegda anyway

I saw this group waving their signs while waiting for a news conference later that day. I decided to find out what was happening, but was nearly assaulted by Ron Shegda. It would have happened, too, except that Charlie Stecker interposed himself between Shegda and me.

"It's the Devil Incarnate!" screamed Shegda when he saw me. I admit, I was dressed in red.

Who the Hell is Ron Shegda?

I first wrote about him in 2006, when he hadn't quite made up his mind whether he was running for the U.S.Senate or State Representative Bob Freeman's seat. He ended up going after Bob Freeman's seat three times, losing worse each time. The last time he ran things got so wacky that even the tea party excommunicated him.

Shegda wants Devil
Incarnate arrested

Shegda has a mentally challenged adult sister. She was taken from him, and nobody but human services, the Hellertown police and Shegda know how that happened. He has lashed out at everyone in Northampton County, from caseworkers to John Stoffa. He also befriended other local whack jobs, including the Blog mentor and Tricia Mezzacappa. When you see all the hate comments directed at Stoffa and former Human Services Director Ross Marcus, you know where most of them are coming from.

Anyhoo, when Shegda saw me, he began screaming that I had no right to take pictures. Never mind that this was a public rally on public property. I recognized several of the people with him, and they have issues themselves. They called for the Sheriff to have me ejected or whatever for taking pictures of their public demonstration.

I have no doubt that Charlie Stecker means well. But he should be more careful about who he attracts to his banner. Instead of hearing the voiceless children, divisive people like Shegda make people run away.

24 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Bernie - I was by the courthouse this afternoon, and saw this band of merry men with their colorful signs. I didn't see you - maybe you had already been tased and were in shackles on the ground. Thanks for the recap and background, because all I could tell was someone was pissed off about something, and the signs made no sense.

Shegda may have a point. When Stoffa was Director of Human Services in Lehigh County some children died. They were under the protection of the children's agency and it was in the paper two or three died while Stoffa was in charge? It is well known by many in the field. He also tried to privatize the CYF division. When the crap hit the fan folks over there said he threw everyone including the county executive and caseworkers under the bus.So you may not want to throw Shegda under the bus. he may have reasons for his feelings. Show some compassion.

4:51, aka Shegda, your Stoffa obsession is not going to help you get your sister back.

6:31, I'll agree that lousy messengers like Shegda make it difficult to look at areas where there really might be a problem. Instead of looking at Human Services or Stoffa or the Hellertown PD, Shegda should look into a mirror. The fault lies not within his stars but within him.

4:51 is correct to some extent, but a larger factor was Jane Baker' refusal to fill positions. C&Y was understaffed and had to take short cuts. Jane Irvin restored funding but then lost the next election. C&Y is again in the process of being reduced.

"Maybe you'd like him to check your oil with his thick vein filled dipstick and if it's low pump some high quality santorum in there to keep things running smooth."

I don't think Bernie swings the way you do. He supposedly is obsessed with a crazy assed bitch in a tiny borough, if you believe what she tells you. It's pathetic when the best you can come up with is an immature and juvenile accusation in an attempt to make a point - or in your case, there is not point at all.

Sunday June 7thBernieDo you think next week you could look into an important issue that may affect many of your readers? The Call's Watchdog reporter has a story that is very troubling. It's about these walk in medical facilities that folks may think only cost a small fee but in reality may cost hundreds of dollars before all is said and done.

The sad fact of the matter here is the Brown Hole system of the valley is broke¿ The powers that be just shift one incompatence for the other and manipulate there pupets positions¿The sad issue is the damage that has been replicated upon the family institution for there propagated agend¿

I am Charles J Stecker Jr... I was invited to attend the Easton PA portion of an International Rally on whose focus was to be Exposing Child Protective Services and its failures to truly protect Children. To answer Mr. O'Haire's question as to if this Rally went on any where else I can gladly provide additional info from my international constituents if necessary.

On this particular day at this particular Rally I witnessed a man coming down the Courthouse steps taking what appeared to be multiple pictures as Mr Ron Shegda, who had invited me to attend, avoided the picture taker rather adamantly and with fervor. I later learned Mr Bernie O'Haire is the photographer and Blogger. Mr. O'Haire then proceeded to continue to take pics when I noticed his lens cap was still attached to the camera, after I made him aware of the fact he then removed it, :-). There were derogatory statements and comments made during this short lived melee.

Mr. O'Haire requested several times for me to identify myself upon which I afforded him my first name. Mr. Ron Shegda was adamant that Mr. O'Haire stop taking pictures. I initially had no issue with my likeness being captured on film. It was only after I had noticed Mr. O'Haire clicking off pics of a Minor Child there that I became concerned. I waited a short while to allow the situation to deescalate then proceeded up the courthouse steps to have a dialogue with Mr. O'Haire... Mr' O'Haire insisted that I identify myself which I then freely chose to do. Mr. O'Haire did treat me with professional courtesy and seemed to better ascertain my position after our short conversation.

I do want to clarify one discrepancy in Mr O'Haire's blog... The woman, Foster Mother, who murdered my brother did not, to the best of my knowledge, die in a mental institution. As a matter of Fact she never even appeared in court for my brothers murder nor the little boy who had died in her care just 10 months prior to my brothers murder. Mr. O'Haire, if you have evidence that Mrs. Lillian Bedford died in a mental institution I kindly ask you to forward that to me at cjsteckerjr@icaptaskforce.org.

Mr.Stecker, I believe I read that in the PW article to which I linked. Or it may have been surmised in that story. As for the minor being photographed, don't bring them to a public rally if you want to avoid photographs. Finally, I would like to know whether there is any coverage of this international rally other than this story. I could not find any and I looked. By the way, I doid attempt to send you a link to my story and it bounced.

A few years ago, when I was working as a CPS caseworker on the second shift, I was assigned the task to remove a child (a 2yo boy) from his home and place him into a foster home already assigned to him. The case was not mine and did not know the history or dynamics; I was just being the intermediary.

I removed the child from his home and drove him to the previously approved foster home. Upon arriving at this home, I was aghast. First, the foster father greeted me at the door in his underwear. The house reeked of cigarette smoke. It was messy and in disrepair. The foster mother was initially not home, but arrived a little later with baby supplies which she just purchased for this placement. However, her concern, to me, did not appear to be in the best interest of the child as she appeared verbally aggressive with me demanding to know who was going to reimburse her for the supplies. This is simply a fingerprint of the totality of their representation.

At the time, not only was I a CPS caseworker, I was also a licensed foster parent, raising several foster children. I knew the ins and outs of the systems very well. I was as polite as I could be, explaining that she needed to resolve the purchasing issue with her foster care agency and not with the County.

However, based on my concerns, I made an excuse and took the boy back to the County Van parked outside. I called my second shift supervisor and explained my concerns. I pleaded with him to allow me to find another foster home. I stated specifically and emphatically, "I'm a foster parent. I know what it takes to become licensed. I want to know who approved these [f*cking] people?"

My supervisor was very old-school and thee most passive-aggressive person I have ever met. He would not budge. Although, he did not make the decision to place this child in this home, he instead, was backing the supervisor who had approved the placement earlier in the evening. He was of the mindset that "supervisor's assign work" and "the caseworkers comply without question". He did not like to be second-guessed or questioned. He ordered me to place the child in that home and then begin my next assignment. Regrettably, I did.

Two weeks later, I removed this little boy from that foster home, after the foster mother took a knife and sliced down the boy's penis for wetting himself. My sincerest apologies to those I let down- especially this boy and his family.